The University of Rochester's Center for Electronic Imaging Systems (CEIS) announces today a record $120 million economic impact in New York State during its 2006-2007 fiscal year.
According to the New York State Foundation for Science, Technology and Innovation (NYSTAR), Rochester's CEIS has delivered nearly half a billion dollars in economic impact in New York State in terms of new jobs, revenues, cost savings, capital improvements, and acquired funds, since 2001.
"As we continue the transition to a new innovation economy, CEIS is a great example of the collaborative technology push among academia, industry, and government, which has led to impressive economic success stories," said Edward Reinfurt, Executive Director of the New York State Foundation for Science, Technology and Innovation.
CEIS works to strengthen the regional economy by matching researchers at the University of Rochester and other regional institutions with New York State and Rochester region businesses, including smaller companies that might not be able to afford hiring full-time engineers. The businesses benefit by receiving cutting-edge research, while the engineering faculty benefit by the additional funding to carry out their research.
CEIS currently supports 52 projects throughout the region, including work on space-faring telescopes, medical devices, digital cameras, and remote sensing technology for applications such as remote-piloting military drones or guiding a probe on another planet.
Based on the performance of these projects as well as other nano- and biotechnology collaborations, CEIS reported to NYSTAR that the technology created by its researchers and commercially developed by local industrial partners has delivered record economic benefits. The report is compiled from data prepared by company officers who annually provide CEIS the results of collaborative projects.
"The Center has expanded into a number of exciting research areas beyond its classical imaging technology roots," said Eby G. Friedman, CEIS director. "For example, we're deeply involved in photonic imaging, nano-circuit imaging, bio-imaging, and remote sensing. The addition of these growing technologies has made the Center stronger than ever, and as a result we've had a record economic and technical impact on the state and region. It's an exciting time to be involved with CEIS."
CEIS is guided by the Industrial Advisory Board (IAB), which advises on long term strategies to facilitate regional technology transfer. Members of the IAB include Robert Naum, chief technology officer of Applied Coatings; Zoran Ninkov, professor at the Rochester Institute of Technology; John Spoonhauer, director of Kodak External Alliances; Al Johnson, senior analyst at Corning, and Rob Rolleston, manager of the Color and Digital Imaging Laboratory at Xerox.
Today CEIS also announces the addition of ITT Corporation CTO, Bob Fiete, to the IAB.